Tax the ultrarich? Cuomo resists, even with $14 billion budget gap

Mr. Cuomo, however, says the potential benefit of new revenue from taxing the rich would be far outstripped by the negative impact on the state’s highest earners, who already shoulder the bulk of the state’s taxes.

“I don’t care what you increase taxes to, you couldn’t make up that deficit,” Mr. Cuomo said last week upon releasing a letter asking congressional leaders for a whopping $59 billion to cover two years of projected state deficits and more.

“There is no combination of savings, efficiencies, tax increases that could ever come near covering the deficit,” he added. “We need the federal government to assist in doing that.”

But supporters have framed the tax increases as an alternative to the steep cuts to local governments and schools that Mr. Cuomo has threatened to implement if Congress fails to approve a federal stimulus package to cover the shortfall.